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Blantent disregard for UTU contract! (yardmasters agreement)

02-25-2012, 08:10 AM

An blatant violation of the UTU contract has been done by my general chairman. Me and my fellow yardmaster have been dealing with pitiful conduct from our own union. Approximately 5 years ago an emplyee on our district took a promotion to a TM position. They employee was a YM at the time of the promotion. Upon his departure he was contacted by the local chairman informing him that in order to maintain his YM seniorty he must follow the guidelines in the contract rule 22 section C. This states that you mist periodically pay your sues as those in the same orginazinal unit. This emplyee states that he had no intentions on returning to YM and canceled all union dues. In feb. Of 2011 this emplyee was told he had to exercise his seniorty and contacted the general chairman. The general chairman told him that he had 5 years of unpaid dues and he sent him a letter saying he had 30 days to pay back missed dues. Well according to our contract the employee shouldn't have been giving the opportunity to buy back lost seniorty. During the 30 days the employee did not pay any money back to the UTU. In fact the first payment he sent to the UTU wasn't untill november 9th 2011 and it was only a minimum payment for the month of September. We files for an appeal during the summer of 2011. We were contacted by the utu secretary of treasure in November informing us that the general chairman has put this employee on a payment plan to repay his lost dues over an extensive period of time. No where in our contract does it state that if you can't come up with back dues that you will be put in a payment plane. Our contract is very clear in the guidelines to maintain seniorty. Also this situation has already occured once before and the employee envolved was held to the contract and his seniorty was lost because he did not pay his monthly dues to maintain his seniorty. The exact same situation were dealing with now. During our appeal the general chairman stated that it was not his place to decide whether or not this man followed the contract or not it was only his job to notify him of missed dues. Aslo when the comitee voted on our appeal they voted on something entirely different. They voted on whether or not this employee was notified to pay his missed dues back. Our appeal that this employee should not have been giving te opportunity to buy back forfetied seniorty. Upon recieving our transcript of the appeal we noticed that only half of conversations were in there. It was edited and key statements were left out. Which was the lies we caught our general chairman in when he couldn't get out of the corner we backed him into. It was a very pitiful appeal and poor conduct of the union. After losing the first step our local chairman told us to appeal it to the international level because they were trying to stay out of. There was suppose to be an international level represinitive on our appeal call but he was absent. After filling for the second appeal we were told that the appeal would be held the second week in January. Well no appeal got handled and the unions response was that we did not meet the deadline intime. After proving that we met the requirements the new excuse was that they had to to get our general chairman to sighn off on the appeal which is wrong. The constitutional by laws are very clear on the process and we met all requirements. They have no intentions on handling our appeal. I have requested the audio of our first appeal call and my unions response was they didn't know where it was and they would have to find it. This general chairman has violated our contract and his reason for doing so he says is that it's his decision whether or not he holds this employee to the contract. We have also had an employee who returned in march of 2011 from an RFE position and he payed his dues every month exactly like the contract states in order for him to retain his seniorty. We also have another TM on our district who is currently paying his YM dues every month to hold his seniorty slot. This employee that has returned and is hold his old seniorty slot has still not payed his back dues so he is holding a seniorty slot in which he has forfeited. The really pitiful thing is that in December of 2010 this same general chairman had a meeting with the local chairman to discuss this employees forfeited seniorty and stayed that this man has lost his seniorty due to unpaid union dues, approximately 5 Yeats of unpaid dues. Our union knows the contract has been broken are are doing nothing to hold this man to the contract. They are simply not doing anything about it and trying to save face and hope we let this issue go to rest. I have had multiple UTU officials contact me and tell me that the union is fully aware of the contract violation and I need to get a lawyer because this is an absolute shame that the union is trying to cover up this violation. Any advice will help. I have no doute in my mind I will not lose this case. This issue has occurred before and the contract was held up and now were being told that the union has the authority to decide whether or not they have to abide by our legal binding contract that I pay my dues every month for. Now I have been forced back to the ground and not being able to hold my YM position. This man has not followedthe contract and the general chairman has violated and overstepped his authority as general chairman and I will not stop untill this wrong has been made a right!

An blatant violation of the UTU contract has been done by my general chairman. Me and my fellow yardmaster have been dealing with pitiful conduct from our own union. Approximately 5 years ago an emplyee on our district took a promotion to a TM position. They employee was a YM at the time of the promotion. Upon his departure he was contacted by the local chairman informing him that in order to maintain his YM seniorty he must follow the guidelines in the contract rule 22 section C. This states that you mist periodically pay your sues as those in the same orginazinal unit. This emplyee states that he had no intentions on returning to YM and canceled all union dues. In feb. Of 2011 this emplyee was told he had to exercise his seniorty and contacted the general chairman. The general chairman told him that he had 5 years of unpaid dues and he sent him a letter saying he had 30 days to pay back missed dues. Well according to our contract the employee shouldn't have been giving the opportunity to buy back lost seniorty. During the 30 days the employee did not pay any money back to the UTU. In fact the first payment he sent to the UTU wasn't untill november 9th 2011 and it was only a minimum payment for the month of September. We files for an appeal during the summer of 2011. We were contacted by the utu secretary of treasure in November informing us that the general chairman has put this employee on a payment plan to repay his lost dues over an extensive period of time. No where in our contract does it state that if you can't come up with back dues that you will be put in a payment plane. Our contract is very clear in the guidelines to maintain seniorty. Also this situation has already occured once before and the employee envolved was held to the contract and his seniorty was lost because he did not pay his monthly dues to maintain his seniorty. The exact same situation were dealing with now. During our appeal the general chairman stated that it was not his place to decide whether or not this man followed the contract or not it was only his job to notify him of missed dues. Aslo when the comitee voted on our appeal they voted on something entirely different. They voted on whether or not this employee was notified to pay his missed dues back. Our appeal that this employee should not have been giving te opportunity to buy back forfetied seniorty. Upon recieving our transcript of the appeal we noticed that only half of conversations were in there. It was edited and key statements were left out. Which was the lies we caught our general chairman in when he couldn't get out of the corner we backed him into. It was a very pitiful appeal and poor conduct of the union. After losing the first step our local chairman told us to appeal it to the international level because they were trying to stay out of. There was suppose to be an international level represinitive on our appeal call but he was absent. After filling for the second appeal we were told that the appeal would be held the second week in January. Well no appeal got handled and the unions response was that we did not meet the deadline intime. After proving that we met the requirements the new excuse was that they had to to get our general chairman to sighn off on the appeal which is wrong. The constitutional by laws are very clear on the process and we met all requirements. They have no intentions on handling our appeal. I have requested the audio of our first appeal call and my unions response was they didn't know where it was and they would have to find it. This general chairman has violated our contract and his reason for doing so he says is that it's his decision whether or not he holds this employee to the contract. We have also had an employee who returned in march of 2011 from an RFE position and he payed his dues every month exactly like the contract states in order for him to retain his seniorty. We also have another TM on our district who is currently paying his YM dues every month to hold his seniorty slot. This employee that has returned and is hold his old seniorty slot has still not payed his back dues so he is holding a seniorty slot in which he has forfeited. The really pitiful thing is that in December of 2010 this same general chairman had a meeting with the local chairman to discuss this employees forfeited seniorty and stayed that this man has lost his seniorty due to unpaid union dues, approximately 5 Yeats of unpaid dues. Our union knows the contract has been broken are are doing nothing to hold this man to the contract. They are simply not doing anything about it and trying to save face and hope we let this issue go to rest. I have had multiple UTU officials contact me and tell me that the union is fully aware of the contract violation and I need to get a lawyer because this is an absolute shame that the union is trying to cover up this violation. Any advice will help. I have no doute in my mind I will not lose this case. This issue has occurred before and the contract was held up and now were being told that the union has the authority to decide whether or not they have to abide by our legal binding contract that I pay my dues every month for. Now I have been forced back to the ground and not being able to hold my YM position. This man has not followedthe contract and the general chairman has violated and overstepped his authority as general chairman and I will not stop untill this wrong has been made a right!

Sounds like you got screwed

1 like

Comment

If that former Yardmaster's name was never actually removed from his roster, it is generally considered good form to give them a chance to pay their arrears. When he originally declined to pay, he should have had his seniority frozen. Then he could come back but he would be rather younger in seniority if anyone was hired after he left.